Chaos (13th Dimension)
The Chaos, or Chaos Sea, is a dangerous environmental phenomenon covering a significant proportion of the world in the 13th Dimension. It was caused by the Fall of Typhon, an event that occured in the distant past, either before, during or after the void century, though the alteration of time incured by the event makes accuracy difficult. Effects Chaos weather, which occurs in patches known as "Distortions" generally manifests itself vissibly as coloured fog, usually silvery or grey. Within it, the fundamental laws of reality are considerably altered, in extreme cases beyond any recognition. This makes travelling through chaos areas extemely dangerous, and has made the task of traversing the New World and Grand Line far harder than it may have been otherwise. The Chaos Sea The largest and densest Distortions can be used to access an ocean known as the "Chaos Sea". The Sea extends beyond the usual limit of reality, and can be used to travel in time, as well as cross the world quickly. However, it is extremely dangerous, as the most unpredictable and disordered Chaos Weather can devellop there. The islands accessed by it often contain rare minerals or substances not discoverable anywhere else. It is known that reaching the end of the Grandline requires passage through one of the most hostile parts of the chaos sea. Protection There are methods of compensating for chaos areas. Generally, understanding milder effects such as dislocations is effective enough at avoiding problems. Most others seem to be weakened by seawater, and by extension Seastone, although the former is rarely dense enough. devices plated with seastone are often used to slow down and resist changes brought on by distortions or chaos weather. Known chaos weather *'Dislocation: '''Also called chaos mirrages. In effect, electromagnetic radiation of various kinds, as well as quantum objects such as electrons and radiocative emissions become displaced and bent, or turned at an odd angle. This results in objects appearing to be in a certain direction, when in reality they are not. This affects all methods of sensing besides sounds and scents, although these are usually not sufficient on their own to trace an object properly. This is one of the most common effects of chaos, but many methods have been found to compensate for it. One example is the electromagnetic Dislocation Adjuster weapons develloped by the marines, which use iron bullets as well as a projected magnetic field to bend the flight path of shots towards their intended target. *'sublimation: 'One of the more passive forms of chaos weather, Sublimation is a weak effect that causes loss of matter from the universe. Generally inert or unchanging objects fade quickest. In most cases, the only significant effect is gold, silver, and other inert metals vanish after prolonged exposure, and it is quite possible to maintain a civilisation within a sublimation zone. Often this is confused with theft, and in some parts of the world there are folk tales about a phantom thief claiming these metals. A much darker side to this can occur if a distortion rapidly gathers density, as in this case the Sublimation is accelerated, and has been known to claim entire ships abrubtly,allthough this is very rare. In any case, complex chemical reactions such as combustion can help to repel it's effects in a localised area *'Loop Echoes: 'Under some circumstances, time anomalies can result in multiple past or present incarnations of an object coexisting with each other. This effect can usually be safely ignored, as normal reality puts pressure on time to conform back into linear order. However, if this effect occurs in denser distortions, care must be taken to return to normal reality slowly, as otherwise isolated time loops and other dangerous phenomena can occur. *'Erradication epidemic: 'A rare and highly unusual effect caused by the chaos adapting to, and translating itself onto, a virus. Those infected with it tend to suffer fluctuations in temperature, develloping a high temperature, then suddenly becoming cold. This begins to occur increasingly frequently and to a higher degree as the effect progresses, until eventually the victim passes a critical point and and combusts spectacularly, simultaeneously catching fire and exploading as well as freezing. This sudden and supposedly impossible occurence often completely destroys everything surrounding the victim, and leads to the formation of unusual metallic elements similar to those deposited in some parts of the Chaos Sea. Despite it's invariably lethal effect to untreated victims, this effect is actually easily dealt with if identified, as it is not contagious outside of Distortions that are sufficiently dense to sustain it, and infected victims can be cured by contact with seastone. *'Fractal storm: 'Widely regarded as one of the most dangerous forms of Chaos weather, Fractal storms can completely obliterate anything unfortunate enough to be caught in them. Fortunately, the effect is often large and obvious, actually resembling a lightning storm, so they can be avoided with care and skill. In effect, they cause atoms to gain properties that are the average of all the atoms in their imediate vicinity (effectively making an object fractal, by turning it's component parts into copies of itself, hence the name). While a single glancing strike is in theory harmless, the density and frequency at which they occur often causes objects to merge into each other abrubtly, and can cause them to merge with the atmosphere and subsequently disintegrate in the space of a minute. The only known protection agains this, apart from avoidance, is to use seastone for insulation, as it does not merge, and often deflects the effects. However, Seastone is rarely available in large enough supply for this to be practical, and so these storms are often seen as a herald of certain death. There is at least one recorded case of an entire ship caught in one of these storms becoming fused into a single object, including it's rigging, cargo and crew. *'Gravitational anomalies: 'On the edges of Distortions, and quite commonly in the chaos sea, forces such as gravity become altered. This is one of the most common Chaos effects, and is often used as an early warning for more dangerous distortion. However, they are not to be taken lightly, as the changes are often very dangerous if not monitored. **'Graviton burst: 'Inside areas where gravity is anomalous, sometimes "nuclei" form when gravity rapidly strengthens in an area. these nuclei tend to draw in and violently crush everything close to them. A Graviton burst occurs when the amount of matter drawn in passes a certain quantity, triggering a chain reaction of matter being drawn in faster and faster. Such a vortex is dangerous enough on it's own, but at a critical mass they all to frequently collapse violently, causing a huge gravitational shockwave that decimates anything unfortunate enough to be caught by it. These vary in size wildly, from small almost unoticable explosions, to the most common large pulses that raise waves almost like ripples. In the most extreme cases, they have had huge and disasterous consequences, such as rupturing the mantle triggering large scale volcanic eruption, or hurling out tsunamis. The largest burst ever recorded, which was mercifully restained by the red line and a large distortion, triggered extreme earthquakes worldwide, raised waves more than a kilometre high, and according to some reports vissibly tugged on the moon. *'Temporal Focus: '''In the chaos sea, time itself can curve around a point or in a certain direction. In this case, attempting to sail againt the flow will fail, due to time being reversed for those who move in the opposite direction. Often, these can become focussed around a certain point, effectively herding everything within to that point. The only method of escaping from a focus current is to find a fissure where it conects with ordinary time, which must be present if reality is to remain coherent. This fissure provides alternative changeable flows of time which can be navigated to leave the focus. However, if reality itself is decohering, these fissures may not occur. In this case, anything caught usually becomes dragged into a reality rift and is randomly displaced. Category:environmental effects Category:13th dimension Category:13th madman